Accounting, skating and caring

Ellie Rodriguez rediscovered her skating skills as well as a new fascination with accounting.

Ellie Rodriguez knows accounting gets a bad rap.

“There’s a stigma that accounting is boring, sitting in a cubicle all day punching numbers,” says the second-year Ohio State student.

So even she was a bit surprised when it became her major.

“I came in with the general idea I wanted to do business, although I wasn’t sure which specialization,” she says.

That all changed in the spring of 2016 when she took a trip to New York with the Business Scholars program.

“We visited the Deloitte offices in Rockefeller Center, which showed me a whole new side to accounting that I didn’t know existed,” she says. “Accounting can be exciting and fun and can remain challenging even after years of experience.”

Another surprise for Rodriguez was how quickly her former interest and skills in, of all things, ice skating returned when she came to Ohio State. She is now part of the school’s synchronized skating team, a club-level competitive sport.

“I grew up skating on and off, but hadn’t been on the ice for a few years due to other commitments,” says Rodriguez, a native of the Philippines who lived in Richmond, Virginia; Bexley, Ohio; and San Antonio, Texas, before coming to Ohio State. “I thought I’d give it a shot and try out, and I’ve loved it since. I try to get on the ice at least four times per week.”

Rodriguez also is involved in the Pi Beta Phi sorority, the professional business fraternity Delta Sigma Pi and College Mentors for Kids.

“I am extremely passionate about the difference mentorship can make in the trajectory of a student’s life, especially for at-risk students,” Rodriguez wrote in an essay that earned her the top scholarship from the Ohio State Alumni Club of San Antonio in 2016.

Now she regularly mentors a fifth-grader, expanding that young student’s horizons through a variety of activities such as visiting the ROTC building on campus, and meeting and learning about service dogs.

“We are big on recognizing volunteerism, and we like to see students who are serious about being involved on campus and contributing to the community,” says Greg Jellick, president of the San Antonio club.